Taobao smashes mobile shopping record, over $100 million in sales in less than 1 hour

Just one hour into China’s annual Single’s Day shopping blitz, Taobao, China’s leading e-commerce marketplace, racked up RMB 1 billion ($164 million) in mobile purchases from over 14 million user accounts.

November 11, also known as Single’s Day, is the biggest shopping day of the year in China. Sales are ongoing for the entire 24-hour period at both major and minor retailers across the country.

Taobao’s massive influx of mobile shoppers shows how quick the Chinese have been to adapt to mobile trends. Last year on Single’s Day, RMB 960 million ($158 million) worth of mobile purchases were made in the entire 24 hours. This year, it only took one hour to beat that record. By the time today is over, Taobao expects total mobile sales to be five to ten times more than last year.

Last year, total sales through Alibaba’s third-party payment system Alipay reached RMB 19.1 billion ($3.1 billion) on Single’s Day. This year, estimates lie somewhere in between RMB 30 billion and RMB 50 billion ($4.9 billion and $8.2 billion). Alibaba, which owns Taobao, is the main player responsible for building what is becoming known as the “Black Friday” of China.